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Month: March 2015

While Belgium is worldwide known for its numerous beers, our vineyards remain of modest reputation. Nevertheless, Belgians love a good glass of wine so beATL has the perfect solution for you … Join us on Saturday April 11th for a Blind Wine Tasting evening in Buckhead. This is one of the best ways to formulate an unbiased opinion about the wine and will forces you to concentrate on every tiny aspect of the wine. So join us and stick your nose in a glass of wine, give it a couple of sniffs, a couple of swirls and a couple of sips.

You don’t need to be a Master Sommelier to participate and you will not be blindfolded! It will be an interesting and fun evening. Our fabulous beATLe-host and connoisseur Cathy Huyghe will bring her knowledge to the table (or should I say the bar).

Cathy Huyghe is a dynamic media professional with a special interest in wine and the spirit of hospitality. She is also an effective, engaging public speaker on subjects ranging from wine and gastronomy to digital media and entrepreneurship. She currently writes for Forbes online and Food52.com. Cathy is working on her first book — Hungry for Wine. Her writing and photographs have also appeared in print, online, and on the radio for outlets including BBC America, Decanter, The Atlantic, DailyBeast, Worth magazine, the Boston Globe and the Washington Post. She has worked for some of the world’s most celebrated chefs, including Thomas Keller, Alice Waters, and Jean-Pierre Vigato, and she is the founder of Harvard Alumni in Wine and Food. Read more about Cathy.

Please read carefully the “What” in the logistics section below for ‘what’ to bring and RSVP.

Logistics

When: Saturday April 11th, 2015 at 6.30 pm

Where: Chris & Cathy – Buckhead (address will be disclosed close to the date to the yes-RSVP’s)

Parking: off-street. Please park on the same side as others since it is a residential ‘curbed’ street. Don’t block driveways or firehydrants.

What: each participant is required to bring 2 identical bottles, from anywhere in the world of either Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Noir, a yummy cheese to share (with a print-out about the cheese) and your own glass of wine.

Misc: Due to the type of activity, we are sorry but no children. And make sure that you organize a safe way to get back home … Bob, Uber, taxi … Don’t drink and drive!

Joran Van Ginderachter lifts the veil on one of Belgium’s finest traditions: beer brewing. During your visit at the Three Taverns Craft brewery, Joran will tell more about the art of beer brewing and what makes the Belgian beers so unique. To get the full beer brewing experience you are taken behind the scenes to see the creation of a beer from start to finish. After which you are invited to a true Belgian beer tasting.

Little ones, grab your cute baskets and hop in the Meertens Yard to find those eggs! Be sure to arrive on time, because the bunny waits for no one! After the hunt, waffles and crepes will be served.

Logistics

When: Sunday March 29, 2015 from 2.30 – 5 pm

Where: Meertens Yard in Alpharetta (will be disclosed upon registration)

Cost: $5 per person at the door

RSVP to beATLe Cindy by March 25th at the latest as there is a maximum capacity. Priority will be given to the families with small children in attendance. Indicate with your RSVP the name(s) of your child(ren) and the number of adults attending the party.

UCB, InBioVeritas and HealthStartup need your expertise, creativity and technical know-how! Whether you’re a designer, a developer, a communicator or an entrepreneur, they need your skills. For a small registration fee, participate in a HACKATHON to Hack Epilepsy here in Atlanta – or in Brussels – on 24-26th April, 2015. This is an opportunity for you to use your expertise, creativity and specialist skills to build innovative digital tools to break down barriers, bridge gaps and bring new solutions to the challenges of living with epilepsy. Teams will have a chance to win one of three cash prizes!

You don’t need to know about epilepsy. At Hack Epilepsy, doctors and patients will explain more about epilepsy and what it means to live with unpredictable seizures. You’ll gain all the insights you need to develop meaningful prototype digital solutions which can make a much-needed difference to the epilepsy community.

Each team’s presentation will be evaluated based on:

• Ability to meet real needs of people with epilepsy
• Creativity, innovation and originality
• Feasibility of implementation
• Quality of the presentation and demonstration

The famous Atlanta Film Festival will be held March 20-29, 2015. Started in 1976 and occurring every Spring, this Academy Award qualifying, international film festival shows a diverse range of independent films, including genre films such as horror and sci-fi. Now get excited because during its 39th edition, two Belgian productions will be presented.

Filmed primarily at the University Hospital in Ghent, “Trans” follows various transgender men as they undergo medical treatment to complete their transition from female to male. The 42-minute documentary directed by Nathalie Cools pairs an profound interview with a transman who has successfuly transitioned with informative discussions from medical professions. Educational, personal, and revealing, the film highlights a community and its struggles few may know.

Jennah, directed by Meryem Benm’Barek. The short film “Jennah,” is a testament to womanhood as it chronicles the main character, Jennah’s (Tiziana Stordeur from Liege), transitions from a girl into a young woman. Living in an apartment with only her mother to model herself after, Jennah is caught between following in her mother’s footsteps and looking for a father figure. What she ultimately finds is that the bond between mother and daughter always prevails.

Meryem is a recent master’s graduate from the “Institut national supérieur des arts du spectacle et des techniques de diffusion (INSAS)” in Brussels and her Jennah won the the 2014 RIIFF ( Rhode Island International Film Festival)Grand Prize for the best short film.

Details: Jennah will be shown Saturday, March 28, 2015, 12 pm at The Plaza Theatre, Main Theatre, as part of NEW MAVERICKS, a series of narrative short films all featuring a strong, female lead seen through the lens of a female filmmaker. It looks like Jennah will be on the screen at 6 pm. Please verify this info.

Think twice if you think there is nothing to do for the Belgians (and Belgophiles) in and around Atlanta! Just look at the amount of blog posts published, and the coming events listed below (and it’s not even mid March)!

So here is what’s cooking … (put those dates in your calendar!):

A repeat THIRSTday … Since beATL’s favorite local band Atlanta Boogie would love to have a Belgian-style audience, we will oblige. Join us for another bowling (or not) evening at The Painted Pin on Thursday March 12th at 8 pm.

This gives you sufficient notice: our fabulous dance pop singer-writer STROMAE will be in concert in Atlanta on Monday September 14th (Doors @ 6:30 pm/ Show @ 7:30 pm) at Buckhead Theater. Tickets for the East Coast leg of Stromae’s tour will go on sale 10 am PT on Saturday, March 14th via his Facebook page or via the Theater.

Be ready to buy your tickets for the ‘Capturing the Spirit of Oakland Halloween Tour‘.Tickets go on sale on July 15th for … tours in October (2015 ticket sales open to members of Oakland’s Historic Foundation on July 1)! This is your only chance to experience Oakland Cemetery after dark, and walk amidst the Cemetery’s beautifully lit gardens. You will play audience to first-hand re-enactments, narrated by a host of Oakland’s eternal “residents,” which bring to life the city’s past.

On Sunday August 9th, beATL takes you to the Atlanta Botanical Garden for another lighting experience: Bruce Muro brings to Atlanta his Light in the Garden’s exhibit featuring unique installations created from hundreds of miles of optic fiber.

Of course, every month we have our Belgian THIRSTdat from 7 pm at a ‘surprise’ location.

The Chief Technical and Innovation Officer of the Coca Cola Company, Guy Wollaert, presents the story behind the Coca Cola Company that often goes untold. How does the renowned company keeps on innovating to stay on top of the beverage market? Within his presentation, Guy will go more in depth about the topics of innovation and sustainability of the company. He will talk more about how the Coca Cola Company is the cutting edge leader with their products and take action to make improvements to green sustainability.

As 2015 marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, and the 150th anniversary of the end of the American Civil War, Skylark presents, under the direction of Matthew Guard, Francis Poulenc’s monumental and rarely-performed Figure Humaine, composed in 1943 in occupied France and featuring poems of the resistance movement by Paul Éluard, sung in French. Its first performance in French was in Brussels in December 1946. Regarded as one of the greatest works composed for a cappella choir, it is an exploration of the grim realities of war, culminating in a cry for liberty. Skylark will also perform well-known English-language songs from the American Civil War, together with forgotten songs recently rediscovered in the Duke University Historical Sheet Music Archives.

Join our Consul, Ms. Genevieve Verbeek on March 19, 2015 at 7:30 pm at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, for “Clear Voices in the Dark”. It is one of the greatest works of 20th century choral music, and one rarely if ever gets the chance to hear it sung in French by professional singers anywhere in the world, much less in Atlanta!

The Atlanta History Center will be on site displaying artifacts from the Civil War and World War II.